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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

King Felix sends Cincy to first loss of spring

The Redlegs (2-1-1) suffered their first loss of the Spring on Tuesday, an 8-6 defeat to the hands of the Mariners (4-1). Here's the good, the bad and a few notables regarding the affair:

The Good:
- Right-hander Mat Latos started and pitched two scoreless innings in his spring/Reds debut. He allowed two hits while walking one.
- Prospect Denis Phipps came off the bench and clubbed a three-run homer in the fifth.
- Chris Heisey recorded an outfield assist after gunning down Ichiro Suzki at third in the first inning.
- Prospect Donald Lutz went yard in the eighth. A majestic solo shot.
- Donnie Joseph and Clay Zavada each tossed a scoreless inning in relief. The Bad:
- Late offseason signing Brett Tomko surrendered five runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk in his lone inning of work.
- Hometown kid Andrew Brackman allowed two runs, a hit, two walks and balked in one inning of relief.
- Daryl Jones struckout in his only two at-bats and also committed an error on defense.
- Seattle starter Felix Hernandez stifled the offense over three innings, fanning four. All totalled, the club went down on strikes a combined 10 times today.
- The Reds' bats managed only six hits.
- Cincinnati is no longer undefeated.

The Notables:
- Cincy heads back to Goodyear on Wednesday to tangle with the San Diego Padres. First pitch is slated for 3:05 PM ET.
- Quote of the day:"He’s behind. Part of that is if he had rehabbed properly in the wintertime. Part of that is he came into camp as one of the few guys overweight....you got to stop eating." -Dusty Baker on the team's frustration with 3B Juan Francisco. Francisco was scheduled to appear in the game on Tuesday, but the team felt he wasn't ready yet.
- Gametime temperature was a perfect 75 degrees.